An internal audit of the Health Service Executive (HSE) revealed that payroll overpayments totalling more than €14.6 million were recorded at the end of 2023, reports RTE.
The HSE wrote off over €909,500 of this amount for the years 2023 and 2022.
For cases where overpayments exceeded €10,000, the primary reasons included employees remaining on the payroll after leaving (19%), pension overpayments for active or deceased individuals (16%), delays in registering unpaid leave (15%), Master Data errors (14%), and mistakes related to sick leave (14%), reports RTE.
The HSE reported that it had recovered over €13.2 million of the total overpaid amount.
Approximately 6,800 instances of overpayments occurred over a six-year period up to the end of 2023.
These overpayments were most commonly found in the medical/dental, nursing, and management/administration sectors, reports RTE.
The audit, dated November 2024, was obtained by RTÉ News and other media through a Freedom of Information request.
Some overpayments were written off due to various factors, such as the passage of six years without recovery, lack of acknowledgment from recipients, or four years having passed since the recipient’s death, reports RTE.
Despite the growing number of overpayments in recent years, the audit noted that the HSE payroll team actively communicates with affected individuals to recover funds in a timely manner.
The audit, conducted in November 2024, assessed the effectiveness of internal controls in identifying overpayments, collecting outstanding debts, and mitigating future risks.
It rated management’s level of assurance in controlling overpayments as “limited,” reports RTE.
As the largest employer in the State, the HSE’s audit covered both full-time and part-time employees.
In a statement, the HSE noted that the outstanding overpayments recorded at the end of 2023 accounted for less than 0.2% of its annual payroll expenditure.
At the beginning of 2023, payroll overpayments stood at €8.5 million, reports RTE.
That year, over €7.8 million in new overpayments were identified, while €5.1 million was recovered and €520,559 was written off, leaving a closing balance of €10.5 million.
This €10.5 million was carried into 2023, during which an additional €12.7 million in overpayments were identified. Over the course of the year, €8 million was recovered and €388,958 was written off, bringing the total payroll overpayment balance to €14.6 million by year-end, reports RTE.
The audit highlighted that a payroll overpayment portal was introduced at all HSE payroll sites in 2023, with full implementation completed by August of that year.
The HSE stated that it takes payroll overpayments very seriously and is committed to minimizing them, reports RTE.
